The field of the present disclosure relates generally to monitoring aircraft operational messages, and, more specifically, to determining the relevancy of aircraft operational messages to the safe operation of an aircraft.
Aircraft contain multiple redundant systems that allow the aircraft to operate safely even if certain systems are not functioning properly or are disabled. Aircraft manufacturers and airlines keep minimum equipment lists (MELs). These are lists of the minimum amount of equipment that must be operating for an aircraft to be allowed to operate in different areas. For example, the MEL to fly in the continental U.S. is different than the MEL required to fly to an international destination.
If a piece of equipment begins to malfunction, such as a radio, the flight crew or a maintenance crew may disable the malfunctioning equipment. In some cases, the crew may pull the breaker connecting the malfunctioning equipment. After the malfunctioning equipment is disconnected, this action is logged. The aircraft would then detect this disconnection and transmit error messages. As the aircraft can send hundreds of messages on a regular basis, determining which messages are important and which can be safely ignored can be a time consuming task. Many attempts to analyze aircraft message traffic have failed in the past due to the large number of messages involved and the potential for false correlations.